A Special Assignment
by Pollygw
Summary: It's 14 weeks after the Rosslyn shooting and Jed has finally got the 'all clear'. But setting up a 'special assignment' with Abbey proves to be more difficult than he had imagined.
1. Chapter 1

Abbey's smile grew wider as she listened on the phone and made quick notes. Finally, she said, "Excellent! Thank you very much, Admiral."

After she'd put the phone down, she sat for a couple of seconds, struggling – though without success – to control the broad grin that somehow would not leave her face. Her hand went to the phone again, intending to hit the button that would connect her to the Oval Office, but then she gave a half-laugh. No, she had to deliver this news in person – and witness his reaction. Quickly, she stood up and picked up the folder with the notes she had just written.

"Lilly, I need to go across to the West Wing," she said as she opened her office door.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Do I have any free time this afternoon?"

Lilly started to open the diary, but Abbey had already reached the outer door. "Check for me, would you, Lilly, and see if there's anything that can be moved or cancelled?"

"Yes, of course."

The agents sprang to attention as she reached the elevator and those positioned in the east corridor did the same. Her heels clicked loudly on the parquet floor of the long corridor that looked out on to the Kennedy garden. But today Abbey had no time to glance even briefly at the formal beauty of the garden. Reaching the Mansion, she made her way through the Central Hall, relieved that the deep red carpet was now blanketing the sounds of her quick footsteps.

Finally, she reached the west colonnade and with a brief nod acknowledged the agent who had opened the door into Mrs Landingham's office for her.

Charlie was sitting at his computer and Abbey crossed the office to him. "Charlie!"

The young man rose immediately. "Good afternoon, ma'am."

Realising she was still grinning to herself, she tried to straighten her face. "Charlie, is the President free for a moment?"

"He's in the Roosevelt Room with the Far East Advisors. Would you like me to go–?"

Abbey shook her head. "No, no, no. Don't interrupt him." She smiled. "Korea might have more plutonium! Just give him a message for me, would you?"

"Sure."

"You'll wanna write this down."

Charlie reached for his pen and notepad. "Yes, ma'am."

"Your blood pressure is 120 over 80."

The young man looked at her in surprise. "How did you know that, ma'am?"

"I'm saying _his_ blood pressure."

Charlie grinned. "Ah – is 120 over 80?"

Abbey nodded. "Yeah." She glanced down at the folder in her hand and listed several more facts which Charlie hastily scribbled down. Finally she ended with, "And prostate screens are fine."

"Okay."

She drew in a quick breath. "So – we can have sex now."

Charlie looked at her open-mouthed. "Okay – so that's not me and you, right?"

"Go!" Abbey said, stifling a laugh at his quick wit.

As Charlie hurriedly departed, Abbey perched herself on the desk, knowing that she was not going to have long to wait. Another smile came to her lips as she imagined Jed's reaction to Charlie's note.

--WW--WW--WW--

Jed glanced round when there was a knock on the door. "Yeah, Charlie?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but I have a message for you."

He'd already scribbled 'From the First Lady' at the top of the note as he had crossed quickly to the Roosevelt Room, knowing that the final sentence of the note would prompt an immediate reaction from his boss. Better if he didn't have to announce to the Far East Advisers who the message was actually from.

He handed the note to the President and saw his eyes travel down the writing. Charlie knew that his boss could move quickly when he had to – but even he was taken aback when the President pushed back his chair with such speed that it fell over. "I'm sorry, gentlemen, I have something extremely urgent to attend to–" then "Where is she?" he added urgently to Charlie who had withdrawn to just outside the open door.

"In my office, sir." Charlie winced as the President slammed the door of the Roosevelt room with a loud bang.

Abbey looked round as the door slammed and heard Jed's voice before she saw him. "Really?"

She grinned at him as he came into the office. "Oh yeah!"

"Good afternoon, Mr President," Mrs Landingham said from her desk.

"Good afternoon, Mrs Landingham," Jed said, hardly looking at her. All his attention was centred on Abbey who gave him a quick nod and suppressed a smirk at the eager look on his face.

Mrs Landingham went on: "Is there anything I can...?"

Jed turned to her briefly with a quick grin. "Go away right now!"

"You seem a little tense, Mr. President."

Abbey nearly burst out laughing at the way Jed already seemed to be going for the belt of his pants.

"Not for long, Mrs. Landingham," he said with another grin.

She put her hand on his arm. "Why don't we go inside?"

"Absolutely!"

As he followed her into the Oval Office, Mrs Landingham started to follow him. "Sir, would you like me to inform Mr. McGarry and the advisors that they could–?"

But Jed had already slammed the door shut – and Mrs Landingham turned back to Charlie with a questioning look.

--WW--WW--WW--

Abbey turned to him with a flirtatious smile. "BP 120 over 80."

Jed put his hands on her arms. "Who cares? It's been fourteen weeks!" Then he looked past her. "Do these curtains close?"

He was half way across to the windows when Abbey stopped him. She'd known he would be eager, but hadn't quite anticipated this. "Not here, Jed!"

He turned. "Yes – you're right! Where?" he asked breathlessly.

"How about our bedroom?"

Jed frowned. "New Hampshire is an hour and a half away by plane – I don't think I have that kind of time."

Abbey looked at him in mild exasperation. "How about our bedroom in the Residence?"

"Yesss!" Jed said with enthusiasm, coming back towards her. "We have a bedroom right here in the building. That was _so_ smart!"

Abbey started laughing. "Yes."

He grabbed hold of her hand. "Let's go!"

She pulled him back. "Jed!"

"What?"

"Korea? Plutonium?"

He slapped his hand against his forehead. "Oh God – I hate plutonium!"

Abbey knew she had to calm him down. "We have to find time before six."

"What happens at six?"

"I have to fly to Cochran's Mills, Pennsylvania."

"Where the hell is Cochran's Mills?"

"Pennsylvania?" she repeated.

"Right," he said, struggling to concentrate now.

"So – you talk to Charlie. I'll talk to Lilly. We'll co-ordinate our schedules – and we'll find a free hour." She gave him her deliberately seductive look as she finished.

Jed reached out to put his arms round her waist and pulled her to him. "I don't think it's gonna take more than a couple of minutes – but I like your confidence!"

Abbey started laughing. "Just get back to work!"

His eyes locked with hers and she saw the combination of love and lust in them. "Can't we just close the curtains?" he asked.

"Let's get back to work," she laughed, but her words were smothered as he leant forward to kiss her.

She had to push him away before the kiss could turn into anything else, and then scooted quickly out of the office.

In total frustration Jed watched her go then heaved a sigh. How in heavens' name was he going to concentrate on anything now?

As he walked out of the Oval Office, he slammed the door shut and made his way back to the Roosevelt Room.

Charlie and Mrs Landingham exchanged glances. Mrs Landingham raised her eyebrows and Charlie nodded. "This is not going to be a good afternoon, Mrs Landingham."

"I think you're absolutely right, Charlie. Have a cookie, dear."

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

It was after ten thirty when Jed finally left the Oval Office. As he started along the colonnade towards the Mansion, his pace quickened. At least this time he knew that Abbey would be there – Charlie had passed him a note in the middle of his hour long conference call with the clerics to say that she had returned from wherever it was in Pennsylvania.

He grinned to himself, remembering his earlier attempt to get back to the Residence. After his meeting with the Far East Advisors had ended, Charlie had come into the Oval Office with a written message from Lilly: 'The First Lady will be returning to the Residence at five pm, prior to her departure for Pennsylvania at six pm for the monument dedication."

After he'd read the note, he'd looked over his glasses at Charlie. "Charlie, cancel whatever I have between five and six this evening, would you?"

"Yes, sir." Charlie started to make his way out of the office, then stopped and turned. "No, sir."

"No? Why not?"

Charlie drew in a deep breath, not knowing what the President's reaction was going to be. "There's a group of kids coming in from Rockville Elementary School at five for a photo-shoot – they won a competition in the county for their project about the White House and this is their prize."

Jed nodded slowly. "Yeah, well, can't disappoint the kids, I guess – and it should only take ten minutes or so. Okay, Charlie, let that one stand."

"Yes, sir – and – er – Mr President–"

"What?"

"Well, we – that is, Donna and I – thought that maybe – as a special treat – they could sit in while you tried the radio address again?"

Jed leant back against his chair with a sigh. "Oh God, I haven't done that yet, have I?"

"No, sir."

"Okay, set it up for five o'clock then."

But then it had all gone wrong. The school kids had arrived as scheduled and Jed had joked and laughed with them while they waited for the photographer who had been delayed. So they decided to go ahead with the radio address while they waited. Inevitably there were a few false starts. "And not always my fault," Jed thought. Okay, he had cracked up laughing again at 'leaf-peeping' – then listened while one the boys explained what it meant. But another take had been interrupted when one of the girls, to her intense embarrassment, had sneezed loudly. And just when he thought he'd finally got it right, the door burst open and the photographer rushed in with a breathless 'I'm very sorry, Mr President– "

They'd had to stop then while all the kids were put in position for the photograph – after which there was another delay while they found their seats again, and he'd started the radio address for what seemed like the hundredth time.

It was when Charlie reminded him that he should have said 'Good morning' and not 'Good evening' that he'd suddenly remembered the time. Making a quick excuse to the kids, he'd started out of the office – and then Charlie had called him back and told him that Abbey had had to leave earlier.

Jed chuckled now as he took the stairs up to the Residence two at a time, thinking of the smirk there had been on Charlie's face and how he'd threatened to send him on a special assignment to the Yukon.

But at least now everything was straightforward – Abbey was waiting for him in the Residence, and Jed had a spring in his step as he turned into the West Sitting Hall. It was, he thought with a smile, going to be quite a celebration after fourteen weeks of medically-enforced celibacy!

--WW--WW--

"Good evening, sir," the agents who stood by the bedroom door said in unison.

Jed stopped for a second. "Guys, it's very important than nobody tries to kill me in the next hour or so!"

"Yes, sir," they replied, totally impassively.

As Jed opened the bedroom door, Abbey turned to him. "Where've you been?"

He threw his briefcase on to the chair and started to take off his jacket. "I was on a conference call with Cardinal Law and the Archbishop of Chicago."

"You couldn't get off the phone?"

"Yeah." He moved round and sat in the chair opposite her. "Excuse me, Your Eminence, but the First Lady is a little randy, and she says I'm good to go."

Abbey shot him a teasing look. "I am a little randy, Jed!"

He grinned. This was definitely going to be a good night! Quickly he started to remove his shoes. "Good! Take your clothes off."

Abbey looked at him in amused exasperation. "Wh–whatever happened to romance? A couple of cocktails, Mel Torme–?"

He was still grinning. "Get 'em off."

With a small sigh, Abbey stood up and headed for the bathroom. "Okay, I'm going to the bathroom. Where I am gonna change into a special little garment–" she turned to him and gave him the sexy flirtatious look that always turned him on "–which I think you might enjoy!"

"Abbey, you have two minutes, or I swear to God I'm gonna get Mrs. Landingham drunk," he said.

"Loosen your tie!" she said airily. "Loosen whatever you'd like!"

As she disappeared into the bathroom, Jed pulled off his tie and unfastened the top two buttons of his shirt.

"What was that thing you were doin'?" he called to her as he crossed to the table and started filling two tumblers with ice.

"When?"

"Tonight – in Pennsylvania."

"You know what it was."

"It was a monument dedication – a statue?"

"Yeah!"

"Statue to who?"

"Nellie Bly."

Jed suppressed a chuckle. "You went all the way to Cochran's whatever to dedicate a monument to Nellie Bly? Abbey, you can really pass that kind of thing along." Laughing again, he started to pour the Scotch into the glasses as he went on, "You don't have to accept every invitation from every yahoo historical society that knows someone in the Social Office. If you want, I can have Charlie–"

Aware that she had come back into the bedroom, he turned round, the drinks in his hands – and saw that she was still wearing her formal suit. As he looked at her, he knew immediately that he'd said something wrong. He tried to lighten the atmosphere, grinning as he said, "You haven't changed into the – special garment?"

"Cochran's Mills is where I went," Abbey said, her voice taking on that dangerous tone that he knew meant trouble.

"Yeah." He let his breath out in a quick sigh, realised that he had to backtrack somehow and went on, "You know what I did, just then, that was stupid?" He gave a brief laugh. "I minimized the importance of the statue that was dedicated to Nellie Bly – an extraordinary woman to whom we all owe a great deal."

Abbey's face remained stony. "You don't know who she is, do you?"

Oh God, Jed thought, she's not going to let me get away with this one. Out loud, he said with a sigh, "This isn't happening to me."

"She pioneered investigative journalism," Abbey said.

"Then she's the one I want to beat the crap out of," he said dryly.

But Abbey was on a roll now. "She risked her life by having herself committed to a mental institution for ten days so she could write about it. She changed entirely the way we treat the mentally ill in this country."

"Yeah," he said briefly, then "Abigail–"

Abbey took the glass of Scotch from him and carried on, "In 1890, she travelled around the world in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds, besting, by more than one week, Jules Verne's 80 days."

Okay, Jed thought, after taking a couple of gulps of his Scotch, I've had enough of this now. "She sounds like an incredible woman, Abbey," he commented, with more than a touch of sarcasm. "I'm particularly impressed that she beat a fictional record. If she goes twenty-one thousand leagues under the sea I'll name a damn school after her." He put his glass down on the table. "Let's have sex!"

But she sat down on the arm of the chair and went on, "When it comes to historical figures being memorialized in this country, women have been largely overlooked. Nellie Bly is just the tip of the iceberg."

Jed sat on the edge of the bed and heaved a sigh as he started to unfasten his shirt. "I couldn't possibly hear about the rest of the iceberg right now."

"Elizabeth Blackwell was the first American woman to be awarded an M.D. She founded the Women's Medical College–"

Totally pissed now by how the evening was turning out, Jed sighed again and started unbuttoning the rest of his shirt. "Keep talking. I'm just gonna sit here and think about plutonium and the things I can do with it."

"Belva Lockwood was the first woman to practice law – Maria Mitchell discovered a comet – Ellen Swallow Richards was the first woman to become a professional chemist – Mary Jacobi founded the Association for the Advancement of Medical Education of Women – Elizabeth Cady Stanton initiated the women's rights movement as early as 1848 – Mary Lyon–"

Jed stood up and threw his shirt on to one of the chairs. "Abigail–"

"What?"

"Could we possibly leave the rest of the iceberg until tomorrow?"

"Oh, I could go on and on–"

"I'm sure you could – but it's been a long day. I'm going for a shower."

"Okay."

With a sigh, Jed went through to the bathroom. What had started off as such a great promise seemed to have turned into a total disaster. And all because he'd unwittingly minimised Nelly Bly and her statue – forgetting how Abbey had talked passionately at other times about how women pioneers were largely ignored in American history. 'And actually she's right,' he thought now as he stretched his aching shoulders under the warm water of the shower. Of all the statues and monuments here in the nation's capital, he couldn't recall any that commemorated a woman. Okay, there might be Amelia Earhart's plane in the Air and Space Museum, and surely there was something in the Museum of American History apart from the gallery of First Ladies' inaugural gowns? But he couldn't remember anything else.

"You're right, you know," he called to her as he started towelling himself down after his quick shower.

"I am?" Abbey called back. She'd poured herself another drink and was sitting on the couch. The few minutes while he'd been in the bathroom had taken the edge off her annoyed reaction to what she had initially taken as a patronising comment. And now she was kicking herself for over-reacting – even though it was a subject that was important to her. It was when he'd taken off his shirt that she'd been stopped in her tracks. Seeing his strong chest – and seeing his scar from Rosslyn too. Rosslyn – the word that would always make her shudder. She would never ever be able to forget how the Zapruder frames of Dallas had flashed through her mind when they'd told her he had been shot. But now, three months later, thank God, he was fit and whole again. And she needed tonight as much as he did.

Jed came back into the bedroom. He'd pulled on a pair of sweatpants, but was still rubbing his hair dry with a thick white towel. "Yeah," he said, "I was just trying to think of any statue or memorial to a woman – and I couldn't think of any. And I agree with you, that's wrong and needs something doing about it."

"So what are you gonna do about it?"

Jed thought for a moment. "Well, I suppose I could ask N.O.W. to take it on – unless you want it to be a First Lady's Initiative?"

Abbey raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yes, really. I'm serious, Abbey. It's appalling that we don't recognise women's achievements."

"Right – yeah, okay then, that could be fun." She was genuinely moved now by his obvious sincerity.

"I just thought of something else," he went on. "How about I do my Saturday morning address tomorrow about these women?"

"You've already recorded your address, haven't you?"

Jed grimaced. "Nope. I had – well, let's just say a few false runs. In the end, they took pity on the recording guy and sent him home. So I'm doing it live tomorrow morning – and I could ask the writing team to do another address for me."

Abbey stood up, smiling inwardly but keeping her face straight. "You bartering with me for sex now, Jed?"

"No, that's not what–" he started, and then caught the sudden glint of amusement in her eyes. He didn't know what had changed, but somehow he was back on safe ground again. "Well, yeah, I suppose I might be–" he added with a grin.

He could see that she was trying hard not to start laughing. "I'll think about it," she said, reaching down to pick up his shirt which he'd thrown on to the chair. Then she went to the bathroom.

Quickly, Jed picked up the phone and hit the buttons for the Communications Office, knowing that she would be able to hear his conversation. "Sam," he said, when the phone was answered, "would you up and quit if I asked you to do me a big favour and rewrite that radio address?......No, no, nothing's wrong with it, it's just that I think we could do it on something more important than leaf-peeping!......Exactly – so how about something on American women whose achievements haven't been recognised with monuments and so on......yeah, that's right, and Nelly Bly, Elizabeth Blackwell......Okay, great. Thanks, Sam. I'll call you first thing tomorrow."

Once he'd put the phone down, he climbed into bed. Despite that glimmer in Abbey's eyes, he still wasn't sure that she had totally forgiven him for his earlier faux pas. He leant back against the pillow with his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said when he heard her coming back into the bedroom. "I shouldn't have gotten snippy before, honey – but it's been a long day with Korea and plutonium and–"

"Jed–"

Opening his eyes, he looked round at her, then widened his eyes. She was wearing his blue shirt– and he almost groaned aloud at how damnably sexy she looked in it, all the more so because none of the buttons were fastened.

"That's your – er – special garment?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

She posed with one hand on her hip. "This is your shirt, idiot. The special garment's gonna wait until after your radio address."

"Now who's bartering?" he asked with a grin. His eyes followed her as she crossed to the table and picked up her glass of Scotch again. "Anyway, you look as sexy as hell in whatever you wear. Come to bed, Abbey."

She drained her glass and then, as she walked round the bed to her side, decided that it was time for some fun. As she got into bed beside him, she looked round at him. "You know, honey, giving Sam that radio address to write was just too easy. You're gonna have to do more than that–"

She almost laughed out loud at the wary look that came into his eyes. "What?"

"Well, I bet you can't remember the names of any of those women that I just reeled off now, can you?"

Jed relaxed and grinned. "What's the bet?"

Abbey thought for a moment. "How about you get a kiss for every one you can name?"

He laughed. "More bartering?"

"Seems like this is the night for it."

"Okay then – Nelly Bly."

"That was too easy."

"You said a kiss for every one!"

"All right." She leant forward and gave him a quick kiss. He tried to pull her down to him but she leant back again. "Who else?"

"Elizabeth Blackwell."

"Yep." Another kiss.

"Belva Lockwood – first to practice law?"

"Very good, babe." Another kiss, and this time her mouth softened against his for a moment. "Go on."

"The comet woman – Maria – er – Michael? – no, Mitchell."

Another soft and more sensuous kiss.

"Elizabeth Cady Stanton – I already knew her – are you sure that there's not a monument somewhere–?"

"It's in the Capitol, along with Lucretia Mott and Susan B Anthony."

"Aww, you cheated there then. You were talking about women who–" He was silenced when Abbey brought her mouth down on his again, this time for a longer kiss. His hands went to her arms to hold her, but she eventually moved back again.

"Go on," she said.

"Oh God, do I have to?" He thought for a moment. "The bird woman then."

"Bird woman?"

"Yeah, she's got a bird name. Sparrow? No, Swallow – Swallow Richards, I can't remember her first name, she was a chemist."

"Ellen," Abbey said, leaning forward to kiss him again, even longer this time as her mouth opened on his and her tongue teased his lips. She smiled as he groaned.

"God, how much longer is this game going on for?"

"One more, honey."

"Okay – Mary something – your thing – medical advancement – women – Mary Jacobi!" he ended triumphantly.

Abbey leant forward and this time the kiss was long and deep. She felt her whole body responding to it and a small moan of satisfaction escaped her. "Jed–"

"What?"

"Just make love to me."

"I passed the test then?"

"Hundred percent," she murmured, "and I'm sorry I was snippy earlier too." She leant back against the pillow as he turned to her and started kissing again, slipping the shirt down her arms, and then trailing the kisses from her mouth to her neck and shoulder, and then to her breast. At the same time, she was pulling his sweatpants down.

Within minutes they were both totally lost in their lovemaking and the gentle arousing had given way to an almost frantic need for each other. When Jed finally lifted himself over her and went into her, they both groaned with pleasure at this ultimate reunion of their bodies after so long apart, and held on to each other for a few seconds almost as if they wanted to preserve the glorious moment forever. And then they fell into the familiar rhythm. Jed's strained grunts mingled with Abbey's cries as they reached up and up, until his almost strangled groan of "God! – Ab – bey!" sent her over the edge too. Collapsing together, with gasps and hearts thudding, they slowly descended back to earth again.

"There was another one," Jed said eventually, when he finally got his breath back.

"What?" Abbey, her eyes still closed and still coming back, hadn't a clue what he was talking about.

"There was another one," he repeated.

"Another what?"

"Another woman."

"What?"

"Mary Lyon," he said suddenly. "You said Mary Lyon – what the hell did she do?"

"I don't know – and right now I don't give a damn," Abbey said with a sigh.

Jed smiled as he looked at her. "I love you so much, Abbey."

"Love you too."

And with their arms round each other, they both drifted into sleep.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Abbey woke as sunlight filtered through the curtains and almost as soon as consciousness returned, a smile curved her lips as she thought of the previous night. It had been heaven being together again after their enforced celibacy, feeling his hardness deep inside her, and letting her body respond to his until they'd both lost themselves totally with each other. Remembering it now, she felt a quiver of desire deep inside her and knew that she needed more. As she made to ease herself over, his hand, which had been resting around her waist, came up to cup her breast.

"You're awake?" she asked, loving the way he was gently fondling her nipple with his thumb.

"Mmm," he murmured into her hair. "We need to make up for lost time."

His voice was still slurred with sleep and Abbey smiled, stretching herself slightly with a contented sigh.

"You turn me on when you do that, you know?" he said.

"Do what?"

"Purr like a satisfied cat."

Abbey turned to him. "I don't purr," she said with a giggle.

"Yes, you do." He opened his eyes and looked at her. "You stretch and then you purr."

"No, I don't!"

"You do too – and I love it, it turns me on."

"When you stretch, you just groan."

"Yeah, well, stretching is hard work. That doesn't turn you on then?"

Abbey brought his hand back up to her breast. "This turns me on a lot more."

"Okay, that does it for me too."

He leant forward and kissed her mouth, and the gentle kiss became deeper. Abbey slid her hand down his body, and smiled when he stiffened as she enclosed his erection.

"God, that's good," he groaned.

Abruptly, he moved her on to her back and brought his head down to her breast. It was Abbey's turn to arch her body as his mouth enclosed her nipple.

Then the phone rang.

"Jeez!" Jed said. "Sorry, sweetheart."

He turned to pick up the phone, and Abbey turned too, wrapping her arm round him.

"Yeah?" he said into the phone, suppressing a smile as Abbey's fingertips trailed around his chest. "Sam – yes – I'm sorry, I should have come down earlier..." He grinned again as she started moving her hand further down. "No – no problem, I was awake...You have? Great! Okay, give me ten..." As her hand moved down past his stomach to his groin, he caught his breath and quickly lifted her hand away. "...ten minutes or so......Yeah, right, and the radio guy?" He was still holding her hand away but almost groaned out loud as she reached up to kiss his shoulder and he felt her hair falling softly against his back. "Yeah...okay, Sam – and thanks."

After he'd put the phone down, he looked round at her in amusement. "What the hell are you trying to do?"

"Distract you, of course," she said with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

"Yeah well, you did that all right – I just hope that Sam's attributing my incoherency to waking up – and not to the fact that my wife is trying to seduce me."

"Do I have time to seduce you?"

He looked at her regretfully. "I really do have to go down to the office, sweet knees."

"Okay." Briskly Abbey threw back the bedcovers and swung her legs out of the bed, reaching for her robe and pulling it on. "Let's go then."

Jed's eyes widened in surprise. "You don't need–"

"Hey, come on, I got a vested interest in this radio address – and I want to check it out too."

He laughed. "Now why does that not surprise me?"

She came round the bed and pulled the covers from him. "So you'd better get your ass out of that bed, Bartlet – unless you want to wait for me to shower first."

Jed hauled himself out of bed. "We could always shower together?"

Abbey laughed. "Dream on! You told Sam ten minutes!"

"I said ten minutes – _or so_," he replied, looking at her hopefully.

"Yeah, and I want more than ten minutes – _or so_!" she said and bent forward to smooth back his hair and then to kiss his forehead briefly. "So I'll order us some breakfast down in the office while we look through the address – and then afterwards we can come back up here–"

She didn't have to continue. Jed started to laugh as he stood up. "That sounds good to me. And – er – the special garment?"

Abbey's eyes sparkled as she picked up the phone. "Let's just say that I think you'll like it."

"And I think that goes without saying, don't you?" He gave her a quick kiss on the back of her neck as he went through to the bathroom.

--WW--WW--

Half an hour later, they were both sitting on the couches in the Oval Office, eating plates of scrambled eggs and toast. Jed watched a little anxiously as Abbey's eyes scanned the script of the radio address.

Before she'd come down to the office, he'd gone through the address that Sam had brought in and then looked up in admiration at the younger man. "This is excellent, Sam," he'd said. "I hope to God you weren't up all night doing it?"

Sam grinned. "I edited it this morning, sir – but most of it – and all the research – was done by three of the interns last night – they volunteered when they knew what you wanted."

"Volunteered?"

"Yeah – they've all majored in Women's Studies."

"Right." Jed nodded in understanding. "Well, be sure to thank them from me, will you? Though of course this has not passed its final test yet."

"Sir?"

"The First Lady's test."

"Ah!" Sam grinned knowingly.

Jed gave him a sideways glance. "And I already threatened to send Charlie on a special assignment to the Yukon for a smirk like that."

"Yes, sir," Sam said, quickly trying to straighten his face.

Jed chuckled. "You wanna stay for Abbey's reaction? She'll be down here in a few minutes – oh, too late, you can't escape now – she's here."

Both he and Sam looked round as Abbey came through the door from the portico.

"Good morning, Sam," she said. "No, no, it's okay, don't stand up." She flashed him one of her dazzling smiles. "Is that the address?" she continued, looking at the sheaf of papers in Jed 's hand.

Sam was already on his feet. "Yes, ma'am. I – er– I hope it meets with your satisfaction."

"_My_ satisfaction?" Abbey replied, her eyebrows raised. "Goodness, what _has_ my husband been telling you about me then?"

Her eyes swung round to meet Jed's and he grinned at the amusement in them. "Let him off the hook, Abbey – he's done a great job."

"With the help of three female interns, ma'am," Sam added.

"Female interns, huh?" Abbey smiled up at him as she sat down on the couch besides Jed. "That sounds good to me."

"Sir, do you need me to stay?"

"No, it's okay, Sam. And thanks – thank you very much."

"My pleasure, sir – and ma'am."

Sam made his way out of the office just as the stewards were bringing in the breakfast cart. At the same time, the sound engineer arrived and started setting up the equipment for the live recording.

Now Jed looked across at Abbey as she finished reading the address. "Okay?" he asked.

"It's excellent," Abbey replied, and he breathed a sigh of relief. "I think I need to send a little thank-you note to Sam's three interns, don't I?"

"I'm sure they'd appreciate that – since they were up half the night doing the research." He glanced up at the clock. "Okay, we've about ten minutes to go. I think Joe's gonna want me to check the sound levels. Joe, you ready for me?" he asked, looking round at the radio man.

"Whenever you are, sir."

"Okay." Jed picked up his mug of coffee and went across to the Resolute desk. He read a few sentences of the address while the engineer checked and adjusted the levels.

When they'd finished, Abbey pulled up one of the chairs next to the desk and Jed looked round at her. "You gonna sit there?"

"You have a problem with me sitting here?"

He held up his hands. "No – no, not at all."

"Good." She sat down and shot him her flirtatious smile. "I like listening to you when you're doing a speech."

"It's a radio address, Abbey."

"Same thing."

"This one isn't. It's casual and homely and friendly. It's like Roosevelt's fireside chats."

"You wearing your carpet slippers then?" she grinned.

He grinned back at her. "Stop it. I need to focus now."

"One minute, sir," said the sound man.

"Right." Jed looked round at Abbey again. "Just don't make me laugh, okay? This is live – I don't get to do twenty five takes."

Abbey gave him her innocent look and he chuckled. Then he looked around the desk. "Oh God, where did I put my glasses?"

"Try your pocket, sweetie."

Jed reached into his pocket for his glasses. "Okay – now let me make sure I have these pages in the right order–"

"Thirty seconds, sir. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good, Joe." He looked over his glasses at Abbey. "This is for you, honey."

"And all the women in America," Abbey replied.

"And all the women in America," Jed repeated. "God bless 'em all."

"Five, four, three, two–"

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

"Good morning," Jed said into the microphone. "Today I'd like to pay tribute to the women of our country..."

Abbey loved listening to him giving a public address like this. It always got to her somehow – his beautiful modulated voice, pacing his presentation perfectly, not talking down to his audience but drawing them in as if he was speaking personally to each individual who would be listening on their radio. At the same time, she felt a warm sense of satisfaction that this address was highlighting an issue that really did need rectifying. History, until the twentieth century anyway, had mostly been written by men about men and, apart from a few notable exceptions, the achievements of pioneering women had been minimised or ignored. It was time to right the balance...

"Oh, I could go on and on – and on and on," Jed was saying, as he turned to the final page of the address. "The fact remains that of all the monuments built with public money, only fifty of them pay tribute to the women who helped build this country, and opened its doors to all our daughters–" For the first time he glanced deliberately over his glasses at her, "–who would follow."

Abbey struggled to keep her face straight as she looked back at him. That one look had turned her on – and now she was longing to be back in the Residence with him again, in their bed there.

"In the coming months, I'll try to persuade Congress to rectify that." He took off his glasses and concluded the address. "In the meantime, enjoy your weekend. God bless you, and God bless America."

As he ended, Abbey let the smile of pride and delight beam from her face – pride at the address he had just given, and the altogether different feeling of delight at the thought of what lay ahead.

"We're out," said the sound engineer.

"Do it live – that's what I always say!" Jed said triumphantly.

"Very nice, babe," she said, her voice dropping to its seductive tone.

He turned to her. "By the way, sweet knees, the Statue of Liberty–"

Abbey rolled her eyes as she started to stand up. "Get upstairs!" she said sotto-voice, aware that the engineer was still there, but very aware too of her rapidly increasing need for him.

He followed her as she headed towards the door. "Right there at the front door to the country!"

"Get upstairs!" she repeated with a grin.

"Like a lawn jockey!" he went on, raising his arm like Liberty's arm with the torch before bringing it down to rest around her shoulders.

They both stopped when the door opened and CJ appeared. "Mr. President?"

"Ah, C.J.," Abbey said with a smile, "the President's going to take a little personal staff time right now."

"No, it's okay." Jed turned to her and leant forward to kiss her cheek. "I'll be right behind you," he whispered as his hand came down to pat her rear.

"Special garment!" she whispered back teasingly.

"Go!"

With a broad smile on her face and shaking with laughter, Abbey stepped outside and made her way along the colonnade to the Residence. It only took her a few minutes to reach their bedroom and, knowing that barring the outbreak of World War 3, Jed would be there within minutes, she grabbed the 'special garment' that she had bought from Victoria's Secret catalogue and disappeared into the bathroom.

--WW--WW--

Jed was relieved that CJ was bringing him nothing more serious than General Ed Barrie. 'Let him out of the box.' he'd told her. 'Man's earned the right to say whatever he wants.'

And now his long fluid strides were taking him back to the Residence and back to Abbey. A smile creased his face as he thought in delight of what lay ahead.

"Take a break, guys," he said to the agents by the door, while knowing that they would maintain their positions – and probably hear everything that was going to happen inside the bedroom.

Even as he closed the door behind him, he was already pulling off his navy polo shirt. "Abbey?" he called out.

He stopped as she suddenly appeared in the doorway of the bathroom, her hand reaching up the doorframe as she stood in the most provocative, seductive pose that fulfilled all his wildest fantasies.

"Wow!" was all he could say.

"You like?" she drawled, smiling teasingly at him.

Jed drew in his breath. "Like is an understatement."

The dark red silk baby-doll that she wore only partly covered her beautiful breasts and, fastened with just one clasp underneath them, offered a tantalising glimpse of the g-string below. That, combined with the high-heeled dark red shoes which emphasised her superb legs, was enough to give him an erection that strained his pants.

"Jeez, Abbey–" He yanked off his polo shirt and moved towards her.

"Hey, slow down, buster!" she said with a laugh as he reached her and brought his head down to kiss the upper swell of her breast. "I told you I wanted more than ten minutes – _or so_!"

"You got it, babe," he murmured, still with his mouth against her skin. "Let's go to bed."

"Let's not."

"What?" He raised his head and looked at her in amazement.

Abbey laughed out loud. "Well, not yet anyway," she conceded and broke away from his hold. "Because I'm going to sit in this chair here – and you're gonna sit on the couch there–"

"And then what?" he asked with a grin.

Abbey sat down on the chair, crossing her slim legs in the elegant way that she always did – and which he always found incredibly sexy. She leant back against the chair and gave him a coy look. "And then you can feast your eyes on this special garment, instead of ripping it off in two seconds flat."

"You're nothing but a tease," he grumbled, but sat down across from her, his eyes meeting hers in an amused exchange.

"Yep," she replied.

"Anyway, I can still see your panties"

Abbey moved her legs demurely. "Yeah, well, when my Mom taught me how to sit elegantly and not show my panties, she didn't imagine I'd be wearing a babydoll and a thong. She thought I'd be wearing a knee-length tartan skirt and bobby sox."

"Have you _ever_ worn a knee-length tartan skirt and bobby sox?" he asked.

"Yeah, when I was in Grade Seven."

Jed laughed. "Okay, so now we're sitting here – and I'm feasting my eyes on your very definitely not knee-length tartan skirt – so what's next?"

"Hey," Abbey remonstrated, "you're not in the Oval Office now!"

He looked at her under his lashes. "I can still ask – what's next?"

"Well, we could talk about balancing the budget – or plutonium – or even about how women have been overlooked in American history–"

Jed leant back with a groan. "Oh God, please don't start on that again!"

"So what do you want me to start on about then?" she replied and then lowered her voice to its seductive tone. "About how damned sexy you look with no shirt on? About how your bare chest turns me on? About how I want to rip your pants off you?"

"Keep going," Jed said, leaning his head back against the couch and closing his eyes. "I was always a sucker for sexy talk."

"I can think of better things than sexy talk."

"You can?"

He opened his eyes slightly as she stood up and crossed to him, straddling him as she sat down on his lap and then leaning forward to kiss him gently on his mouth. He opened his mouth to hers and for a few minutes they were both lost in their sensual kiss.

"Thought you said you wanted me to sit and appreciate your special garment?" he asked eventually.

Abbey sat back a little. "Well, you can always appreciate it at close-quarters," she replied.

"And am I allowed to appreciate the feel of the material?"

Without waiting for an answer, he brought his hands to her breasts, fondling them through the soft silk.

Abbey's head went back and a small moan escaped her throat as she surrendered to the delicious feel of the silk against her skin. "Mmm, that's nice."

"So now maybe I ought to check whether this clasp thing is fully operational," he went on. "Can't have you buying anything sub-standard, can I?" His fingers fumbled slightly with the fastening, but once he'd managed to open it he slid the material slowly to one side, then leaned forward to kiss her breast. As her back arched, he put his arms round her quickly to stop her from falling backwards and then continued his tongue's exploration of her hard nipple. Her hands were clutching his hair and then sliding down to his neck and shoulders.

"Hey," he said after a few minutes as he lifted his head from her. "Can I take a ten second break and get these jeans off? Denim doesn't stretch, you know?"

Abbey opened her eyes and grinned at him. "Stand up then."

She slid off his lap and stood up, holding out her hand to pull him up too. He started to unfasten his belt but she moved his hands away and did it herself, while Jed leant forward to kiss her. Then slowly she pushed down his jeans and boxers at the same time. As they fell to the floor, Jed stepped away from them, still holding her as they shared an increasingly erotic kiss.

Then Abbey released herself from his hold and dropped down on to one knee in front of him.

"Oh God," Jed groaned as her mouth went round his hard shaft. His hands moved to her shoulders, slipping off the thin straps so that her silky top dropped away from her and then clutching her shoulders as the electric sensations ripped through him. "That's so good–" And then, when he knew he was seconds away from losing it completely, he moved her head away from him.

She looked up at him. "What?"

"Bed," he said.

"Okay." She stood up and caught hold of his hand as they moved the few steps towards the bed. Once there, he pulled her down beside him and they were kissing again, their hands moving everywhere as they both lost themselves with each other.

Somewhere along the way, Abbey's thong had been discarded and Jed opened his eyes as she pushed him on to his back and straddled him. "You ready for me?" she asked, her eyes sultry with desire.

"You bet," he replied with a grin.

As she lowered herself on to him, Jed's head went back against the pillow and he gasped as he felt her enclosing him. And then she started moving on him, and he felt his control going, his body taking over.

"Abbey–" he groaned helplessly.

"Come on, babe," she whispered.

Coherent thought left him. Their bodies moved together in the familiar rhythm, and he reached for her hips, pulling her even harder on to him as he thrust up into her. Her cries became frantic, exciting him even more, until she threw her head back with a final yell of "Je-ed!" He held her tightly as she came and then thrust into her wildly as the aftershocks that jerked her body took him over the edge. With a groan of "Abbey!" his own mind-blowing release took over and he spilled into her over and over again.

Then they both collapsed, gasping for breath and hearts thumping, as they descended to earth again.

"You awake?" he said eventually.

"Mmm," Abbey murmured into his shoulder.

He put his arms around her, enclosing her slender frame in his bear hug. "It was almost worth the fourteen week wait for this."

Abbey lifted her head and her satisfied green eyes looked down at him. "But we don't have to wait another fourteen weeks to do it again, do we?"

Jed grinned up at her. "Not a chance, sweetheart." He reached up to kiss her gently. "In fact, I've already scheduled another Special Assignment for tonight..."

**The End**


End file.
